Wednesday, April 29, 2009

COMMENTS: If the firsttwo games of this series are any indication, then expect an asteroid or a jetliner to crash into AT&T Park tonight. After all, if the Dodgers and Giants haven't exactly been playing disastrous baseball, they've certainly been playing games filled misadventure and mayhem.

Such is life in the NL West, where expectations are low and no one seems to mind. (The Red Sox's win streak just ended! OMG!) Giants fans will treat tonight's rubber match like Game 7 of the World Series, to which we say: Bring it on.

Which they will happily do, since the Dodgers have never beaten Lincecum—who has recovered from a rough start to strike out 25 over his last two games. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have been so cocky in the previous paragraph.

Stults is in the unenviable position of facing the reigning Cy Young winner while following the act of his own team's ace. But the under-appreciated Stults knows unenviable; workmanlike performances are becoming his specialty. If he can once again keep the Dodgers in the game, he'll be under-appreciated just a little less.

Last night I was falling asleep when we got to the seventh inning. I turned off the TV because the remote doesn't work so I had to get up to do it, and I didn't want to do that once I was actually asleep. So I missed the end of the game, and I woke up this morning thinking that the Dodgers had lost.

What I'm saying is, please let the Dodgers kill Lincecum and put this away early tonight so that if I fall asleep before the end, I'll wake up thinking we won, and hopefully be right about it.

If only it were as simple as the batteries. No, in this apartment, the remote only controls the DirecTV box, which means volume and power cannot be remotely controlled. It is a pain, but I move into a hotel on Friday, so it's only a temporary pain.

This remote looks like it was built before television even existed, so that process of making it work with the TV is useless, unfortunately. I only have to deal with it tonight and tomorrow, though, and then I'll be watching all the games on my computer anyway.

Torre's logic in putting Russ in the 4 hole against a hard throwing lefty was actually decently founded, though Kemp should have been the one in there. Russ was actually rather successful in the 4 hole last year with the following line: .333 .385 .514 .899

Anyway, I am not averse to Slappy starting today given that Lincecum is pitching and Kemp has had problems handling him. Pulling a LaRussa is also a good idea with a guy like Pierre in there because you figure he will be on base at least once in 4 ABs and his speed becomes a big factor in front of Manny. This is even more true considering that Stults can handle the bat.

I would like to remind everyone that my tickets for Saturday night's game are for sale on eBay. They are fairly priced. If anyone is interested, the link is up on my page. And that's the last I'll mention it.

Christ, Pierre looked ridiculous going for that ball. Tough play for anyone, I guess, but does Kemp catch it?

Apple Pan is delicious. I'd also go for a Houston's burger right now, too. There are any number of things I'm dying to get back to in L.A. You would think I've been gone for six months instead of six weeks.